Still Alive
by mistress0fyaoi
Summary: TF:P AU Sick of standing on the sidelines of the war Skyfire decides it's time he took part in this battle and decides to head to earth and join team prime in hopes of helping this war come to an end and finding an old friend from the past. Sorry I suck at summeries
1. Prologue

**Hello there mistress of yaoi here and guess what this isn't a yaoi story! I am a huge transformers fan and after watching Prime I wanted to write this story and bring my favorite transformers into my favorite universe! That one thought is what spawned this idea and I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I am writing it! Also any reviews will be welcomed as it has been years since I have written anything fanfic related and even longer since I have written anything that is not yaoi. **

**ok on with the fic enjoy!**

Prologue - Joining the Battle

War can break a mech in many a way, to those weak of spark they can lose themselves in war and in the end lose both themselves and their ideals. To others their sparks can grow cold and unfeeling, and though they may still fight for what they believe, what they see in battle will change them forever and they will never be who they were before the war, even the kindest spark must harden to survive and in the end even a pacifist must become a soldier if they are to survive, rule one of Vos self preservation is the key to survival.

"I am a scientist, not a soldier" those were the words uttered the day they parted ways. His friend had chosen his side in this battle and he had chosen his and had left Cybertron after the bombing of Vos. Yes he was running away but there were so many others more capable more qualified to fight than he, he could help others off world. That is how he justified his actions when he left and then the news reached those in space that their home was now nothing more than a dead planet, a planet suck dry by war.

That's when the number of Cybertronian refugees sky rocketed out in the colonies off Cybertron. What had been nothing more than research colonies were soon turned into refugee camps for those with no where else to go and the little energon the researches had for themselves was stretched and diluted to the limit.

Everything was rationed in the beginning but then the infighting began amongst those who had come from the war and between those from different fractions that crossed paths. Autobot or Decepticon even those who had walked away from the war could not put aside their past grudges it seemed and anyway he looked at it he could not run away from this war any longer, there was no where to run to any more except into battle and the current battle ground it seemed was a small blue planet called earth.

Maybe if he went to earth he would be reunited with his friend again, he highly doubted it though. At the beginning of the war his friend had made his choice, and had chosen to side with the decepticon cause. A cause that was originally found on the ideals of equality for all on Cybertron and not just the elite. It was a cause he himself should have been able to stand behind, but there had always been one thing holding him back, the Decepticon leader himself. There was something unstable and frightening about him. So if he was going to join this war he would have to choose the side of the other. The Autobots, but that in itself had it's own difficulties.

Autobot's do not trust fliers or anyone who originated from the city of Vos. Though it was true many of those in Vos believed in the Decepticon ideals that had been preached by Megatronous in those early days before the war many were weary of the gladiator from Kaon and he was defiantly one of them. Equality was defiantly something he wanted for both elite and worker but the way that the gladiator was going about it just did not sit right with many of them and there was something else that had bothered him right from the first time he saw Megatronous speak.

There was a lust for power in his voice, a cruel coldness in the way he spoke that may have been unnoticeable to others but he saw it right away. This mech should not be given power over the lives of others, this mech was dangerous and once seeing the mech fight in the Pits of Kaon after being dragged there by his friend he was even more scared of this Megatronous. His friend however was in awe at the mechs strength and star stuck, it was the only way to describe how he stared so intently at the silver mech. In a way thinking back now, it was on that day that his friend began to slip away.

But joining the Autobots would also cause one other problem for the mech, was he willing to give up his own ideals? For a long time before the war he had began to grow weary and untrusting of the council within Iacon. Contrary to popular belief Vos was not just a city of just soldiers but was also a city of free thinkers, scientists and philosophers.

For these free thinkers within Vos no subject was too taboo to be spoken of and just weeks before Vos was attacked and wiped out the discussion had turned to that of the council and the current the primes. Being the kind to try and learn from the mistakes of the past the discussions also at times would turn towards the original thirteen and even Primus himself. Most were in agreement by that point that something was about to happen of Cybertron and the most pessimistic of them even worried that they may be on the cusp of war and that it was time to choose a side, many of the seekers who had been going to see Megatronous speak were with this group. Others however shared a different opinion.

They believed that this was not their battle to fight and that if they were going to be dragged into a war that was not their own then they should leave Cybertron all together and start a colony elsewhere away from the council and away from the rising tension. Those who voiced this opinion were immediately accused of being cowards to which they responded "Self preservation is the first law of survival, why should we through our sparks away for a battle that is not ours? Why should we care about the welfare of those who don't care for ours?"

It was true that those within Vos and those who came from Vos were never welcomed amongst the other groups on Cybertron, grounders as they referred to many of the others who did not possess flight just did not understand the inner workings of the minds of those who ruled the skies above. Perhaps it was fear or perhaps it was jealousy, the answer to this unasked question was never really found.

But the questioned that lingered in the back of his processor was this, "The Autobots are all grounders, would they ever really trust him? Or would he be constantly seen as time bomb of a threat waiting for the right time to stab them in the back?" Autobot's were always expecting those from above to betray them because so many of them sided with Megatron. Would they believe that he did not believe in Megatron but also allow him to believe that which the Decepticon's originally stood for? Freedom for all Cybertronians?

It was when he heard something being spoken by a group of Autobot's as he was trying to make up his mind whether he should leave the colony and head to earth or just stay here and watch things deteriorate even further. "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" it was a quote he had never heard before and when he asked where the quote was from he was told it was something spoken by the Autobot leader Optimus Prime.

In those few moments he made his decision, Skyfire was heading for earth to join the Autobot cause.


	2. 1 First Contact

**Disclaimer – the cover image belongs to Tench over on Deviantart and I want to thank her for allowing me to use her lovely artwork. Wow now I just realised as I was working on this chapter that there were a few grammar mistakes in the previous prologue, for that I apologise. Also to those following this story thank you for your support. And one last note I am sorry it has taken so long to get this first chapter here, its been a crazy couple of months for me emotionally but now that I have time to work on this hopefully the updates will become more regular.**

Chapter 1 – First Contact

It is never easy to keep secrets of any kind, but when you work for a government keeping secrets was just part of the job. When those secrets include giant intelligent alien life forms who happen to be giant robots with destructive power, well it can become a very stressful part of the job.

The number of robot sightings around the country had gone down lately which should have lessened Agent Fowler's stress levels, but just knowing that the Decepticon warship, the Nemesis was somewhere in the earth's atmosphere or orbit still put the man on edge, oh how he wished for the bliss of ignorance of this whole situation.

How was he suppose to relax knowing that such a terrible power could at any moment be turned against his home and country? Even weekends did not feel the same any more. Sure he could sit down at home and relax with a drink and watch the game but just knowing of the existence of the transformers, well it's just one of those things that once you know, everything else just seems so insignificant. It was at times like these he sometimes wished for the days of been stuck with nothing more than paper work and his biggest worry would have been what he was going to pick up for dinner on the way home.

Now it seemed work was never ending and it was something that was sure to get to anyone. So when he got word from his superiors that two robots had been spotted near a fuelling station outside of Omaha fighting it out, his last nerve snapped, and he immediately made the call to team prime from his jet.

"Prime! What in blazers are your people doing out here? We had an agreement! No collateral damage!" he yelled as the Autobot leader himself answered the call. Optimus could not understands the man's anger or what exactly was going on to make him so mad at the team, all of team prime was present there in the silo.

"I'm sorry Agent Fowler, but all Autobots are present and accounted for" the prime stated calmly to the clearly agitated agent on the view screen. Things had been peaceful all week and the team had been spending the afternoon relaxing while they waited for the children to finish in school.

"Then explain to me, why I'm receiving reports of two jumbo size bots mixing it up twenty miles outside of Omaha?" in the back of his mind however confident Fowler may have sounded, knowing that no Autobots were involved in the current situation just made the situation even more deadly. If this was a disagreement between two Decepticons the collateral damage could end up worse than originally estimated. Omaha itself could be wiped off the map completely. Unfortunately the next thing said among the bots made Agent Fowlers stomach churn.

"Decepticons?" questioned the Autobot medic Ratchet gruffly, "There has been a lot of infighting lately, Megatron cannot keep his ranks in line." added Arcee. It was well known among them all that Starscream was still rogue and infighting had been seen with Airachnid and any con she seemed to be partnered up with. It had become quite obvious the Insecticon was not popular among the Decepticon ranks, though it had also been made clear in the past that she held very little loyalty to anyone except herself, perhaps she was only acting the loyal Decepticon in fear of Megatron off lining her spark, a simple case of self preservation and nothing more.

"I'm just arriving on the scene, have a look." Agent Fowlers image then cut out to an image of the fight below, a large maybe dark blue bulky looking flyer was exchanging fire with someone. Well if it was a flier it was most likely a con of some kind so they were most certainly a Decepticon, there were no flyers left on the Autobot side, very few had chosen to side with them at the beginning of the war and the few that did ended up defecting to the Decepticon cause for one reason or another.

"I don't know" commented Optimus, to himself mostly as he did not recognise the mech on the battleground, that being said there was something very familiar about their design that felt very familiar to... "Paint job aside it can't be Skyquake" commented Bulkhead interrupting his the primes thoughts before turning to Bumblebee with a proud smile aimed right at the scout "You and Optimus pounded him into the ground"

"Before Starscream yanked him back out as some undead terrorcon" Arcee practically spat out the seeker's name as the thought of the Skyquake terrorcon brought forth memories of her old partner Cliffjumper. She hugged her servos around herself trying to not break down in front of the rest of the team, it was not the time for tears. Those times had long passed her by and all that seemed to be left was an empty anger towards Starscream that she could only come to terms with when on the battleground.

It was Optimus's soothing voice that brought Arcee back to the reality of the moment as she looked back up at the monitor "The question still stands .." "who is his dance partner?" Ratchet finished the statement as the camera on Fowlers jet scanned over the other bot on the battlefield.

An immediately recognisable white sword wielding figure was spotted below "By the all spark, it is one of ours" stated Ratchet in awe and worry he knew right away there was going to be a mess to clean up.

"Wheeljack" Optimus stated the name on everyone's lips. To which one member of team Prime became ecstatic at the news "Jackie is back!" Bulkhead cheered as he pulled the two closest bots into a hug, the unfortunate victims being Arcee and Bumbleebee.

"I don't care if Abraham Lincoln is back, we need to get a handle on the situation before..." Agent Fowler stopped himself midway through telling the Autobots to calm down there celebrations, "There's something else heading here at high speed!" he yelled before the call went completely silent.

"Agent Fowler? Come in Agent Fowler?!" Ratchet tried reconnecting the call with the government Agent only to pick up some sort of weird interference. He tried scanning the co-ordinates they knew Fowler was at but got the same interference. "This does not make any sense, there's no way Wheeljack or that con have the tech on them to cause this kind of interference" mumbled Ratchet as he continued frantically typing away.

"Do you know what kind of interference it is?" asked Optimus "I know what it looks like..." he trailed off lost in thought, there was just no way it could be what he thought it was. That tech had not been seen since the beginning of the war. He made a conclusion and turned and looked over to Optimus.

"I can open the ground bridge and send you through but I won't have any idea what or who will be waiting for you on the other side."

"Who ever it is they won't stand a chance against Jackie once we hit the battlefield!" growled Bulkhead pounding his fists together, Bumblebee gave an agreeing beep and Arcee just nodded in approval as she readied herself for battle.

"Open the ground bridge Ratchet and get the medical bay ready for our return just in case." Optimus gave his order as the team turned to face the ground bridge, it opening into a swirling vortex of light.

As they stepped through to the unknown other side of the battlefield that was the fuelling station, they quickly spotted Wheeljack taking cover behind his ship and Agent Fowler huddled behind the mech's leg. Both of them were watching the sky above intensely.

The Autobots also looked up in the same direction of them and stared in awe at what was happening above them. Two flying transformes were in a heated dog fight above them, they both shared the same alt mode as it seemed both had opted to scan Agent Fowlers jet. The dark blue one that had been fighting Wheeljack firing like a madman at their opponent. The opponent though the same jet had one very big difference. They were easily twice the size maybe even bigger than the dark blue one and they were not exchanging fire, just dodging quite skilfully.

The Autobots quickly joined Fowler and Wheeljack behind the Jackhammer. "What is going on up there?" asked Bulkhead not taking his eyes off the acrobatics above their heads.

"What's happening is that white guy up there saved my life from this idiot" grumbled Fowler as he glared up at Wheeljack. "You were in my line of fire, how was I suppose to know you were not an enemy" replied Wheeljack before continuing "Optimus sir, are you sure there are no seekers on Autobot side?"

"The only seeker on earth is Starscream" replied Bulkhead, "You think that guy up there is a seeker Jackie?" "Look at his flying skills those my friend are the kind of skills I have only seen in flyers that came out of Vos"

Arcee stopped staring at the sky and turned to Optimus as did Bumblebee "That's impossible, isn't it? There is no one from Vos left. Not after..." she was interrupted by Bumblebee who started beeping frantically pointing to the sky, the big white jet had gone into a nose dive and was heading straight for... "Take Dreadwing out!" cheered Wheeljack.

It happened in less than a second, the white jet shot and Dreadwing made his escape from the battle flying off. "He is not getting off that easily!" growled Wheeljack as he turned and tried to hop into his ship to give chase, "Hold on Jackie wait!" Bulkhead placed a servo on Wheelkjack's shoulder but the white mech pulled away from his friends grasps. "I cannot let this go Bulkhead, that fragging pit spawn killed Seaspray!"

"Killing your opponent will not make the pain go away" came a gentle voice from above as the jet hovered above the group of Autobots. "Identify yourself soldier!" called out Agent Fowler. What came as a reply to the humans request was what sounded like an amused laugh.

The jet began to transform as it came into land, if they thought his alt mode was big well his robot form was even bigger and stood on par with Optimus. He was tall, and he was white except for his red wings, black stomach and red and blue marking found on his chest and arms. He also had bright blue optics and black audio receptors on the side of his head. "I'm afraid I am going to disappoint you...human? Yes I believe that is the correct name of your species." he smiled down at Agent Fowler before turning to face Optimus "I'm afraid I am no soldier sir, what I am is a scientist and you can call me Skyfire."


	3. 2 Refugee of the Stars

**Wow I was so not expecting so many new followers and favourites for my story, thank you so much everyone for your support in this little experimental piece of mine. It has been so many years since I last wrote a fanfic and I appreciate all the support so far!**

Chapter 2 – Refugee of the Stars

The cast system, a system of rules that were in place on cybertron to prevent chaos and keep peace on the planet. A system of rules that dictated to each what their lot in life was to be. If you had a body that was for construction or mining, then that is what you did. If you were made to fight as a gladiator that is what you did. If you were designed to be used as transport for others that's what you were suppose to do.

If Skyfire had followed the laws of the cast system, he would have been nothing more than a transport for others, his large size and compatibility for space travel made him the ideal and perfect candidate for the work of a transporter, but Skyfire had a thirst for knowledge and a love of science.

He wanted to be a scientist and because he had come online in the free thinking society that was Vos before the great war he was able to feed his hunger for knowledge instead of possibly living the life of a mindless transport bot. Not that there was anything wrong with transport bots, they just were not known for their calculating capabilities or deep conversation skills.

All within Vos knew of the cast system, but many of them disagreed with it. It was this disagreement that was the main cause for the wedge between those in charge within Vos and the Cybertronian Council and it was because of this that Vos was seen as an independent city, though perhaps it might have been more accurate to see them as their own separate nation, as they had there own customs and history that was found only within their city and nowhere else upon Cybertron.

Even before the beginning of the great war, there was propaganda against Vos and it's free thinking ways and in the eyes of many they were demonised as nothing more than a military group aiming to take over Cybertron. This however was never the wish of those within Vos, their only wish was the same as anyone else on Cybertron, the wish of freedom for all. Till all were one.

Even now standing on earth in front of the Autobots, Skyfire's wish was still that of freedom for all Cybertronians; for that is what they all were before they were Autobot or Decepticon. That being said he really did wish that to help this war come to an end that he was making the right choice in helping the Autobots. In the end the choice always came back to one thing, working for someone like Megatron so joining the Decepticons was still out of the question for him.

All he could do was smile and just be himself, it had worked for him so far in these many vorns away from Cybertron and away from his home in Vos, still he tried to exhume as much confidence as possible "I'm afraid I am no soldier sir, I am a scientist and you can call me Skyfire" not sure on what was the right etiquette in introducing himself to the Autobot leader he decided to just offer the same polite greeting he offered to all he met through his many travels and extended a black servo for a handshake.

Both Arcee and Bumbleebee were put off guard by the strangers greeting and readied their own servos on their weapons, Bulkhead just stared as did Agent Fowler and Wheeljack just smiled to himself. He had seen neutral bots before in his own travels and knew they did not know the proper etiquette of those in battle, if anything this made the wrecker wonder why such an obviously skilled flier was not a soldier on the Decepticon side.

"Thank you for your assistance today Skyfire" replied the Prime as he accepted Skyfire's servo into his own. The first thing Skyfire noticed from the Prime was the calm auro the mech seem to have about him and it was defiantly completely different from the feeling he had felt all those many vorns ago when he had a similar encounter with Megatron, back when he was the gladiator Megatronous. The gladiator had commented on his size and obvious strength something that had always made Skyfire uneasy about himself. He had always been a gentle bot and being told he would make a fine warrior though he knew it was a compliment just never sat well with him, it just went completely against his nature.

Now this meeting with Optimus was completely different, there was no bad feelings felt and he felt at ease if not a little embarrassed by the compliment which showed as he brought his other servo up to his face plate trying to hide his embarrassment behind the act of stroking his nose plate. "Please Optimus Prime, I have done nothing worth being thanked for..."

"You just saved both me and this idiot from, what was his name again? Dreadwing?" Fowler interrupted the giant bot. "I just wish he had accepted my transmission and talked, I thought he might have been a seeker judging by his design. Sadly I think he was younger than he appeared he did not seem to understand the Vosian signal I sent him" commented Skyfire more to himself than anyone else present.

Arcee immediately reached for her weapon as soon as she heard the word 'vosian' and aimed it straight at Skyfire "So you are from Vos, why did you not fly off with your Decepticon buddy?"

Skyfire let out an almost annoyed sigh as he pulled his hand away from his face and turned to kneel down so he was optic to optic with Arcee "So you are assuming that because I am from Vos I am automatically a Decepticon? I have been a neutral since the beginning of the war and there is no way in the smelting pits of Kaon I will ever join a megalomaniac like Megatronous. I have seen too much energon spilled in this meaningless battle." Optimus looked like he was about to say something but Skyfire simply raised his servo at the Prime silently asking him not to interrupt him as he stood once again at fall height.

"I have come here from a refugee camp codenamed K-2 but funnily enough nicknamed Kaon 2. I have seen too many arrive at our camp damaged and broken both physically and mentally. The most mentally damaged came from the Decepticons in fact many of the ex soldiers there are Decepticons the horror stories I have heard of what they have suffered from their mighty leader out weigh the damage their sparks and armour have taken on the battle field."

The Autobots just stared in awe and Arcee had lowered her weapon halfway through the speech. It was obvious this bot was not a threat but it did not explain why he was their before them. "Perhaps we should continue this conversation back at the base" stated Optimus. The others all nodded in agreement as Optimus commed Ratchet asking for a returning space bridge and as it opened the group made their way towards it, though Wheeljack wanted to stay back and move his ship to a safer location and told the bots he would catch up with them later.

As Skyfire made his way through the groundbridge something he had not done since being on Cybertron Arcee turned around while the others were walking through and faced the giant that was Skyfire "Know this, I don't trust you and if you do anything to step out of line I will offline you" she then transformed into her motorcycle mode and sped off. Skyfire was left there momentarily thinking that the two wheelers paranoia reminded him of another two wheeler he had met on his travels and was wondering if this was a trend for all two wheelers.

Miles away from the sight of the battle a blue jet had come to a frightening conclusion after the battle with Skyfire as he attempted making contact the the Nemesis. He could not transform back into his robot mode, he had attempted to upon landing but had only ended up almost crashing into a cliff face only to take to the sky once again. Had that strange white jet done this to him? And what was that strange coded message the jet had tried to send to him...was that jet the reason he could not transform? This was getting needlessly frustrating but he felt some relief when he found the decepticon ship only for that to turn to dread when the ship began to open fire on him. He tried comming the bridge "Lord Megatron, it's me Dreadwing your humble servant."


End file.
